Web Among Top Sources for Financial Information

Retail banking and brokerage customers consider the Web a top media source for financial information and use it on a regular basis, according to a study by Harris Interactive.

The Harris Interactive Financial Landscape^SM study found that brokerage customers are more likely than banking customers to make regular use of the Web for financial information, and ranks Web use ahead of newspapers and other media, particularly among the affluent. Banking customers rank the Web second, behind only newspapers, as a source for financial news, the survey found.

According to the study, affluent banking and brokerage customers (consumers with incomes of $100K+) are more likely than the total market to use all media sources regularly, including Web sites. There is a notable difference in Web site usage among the total vs. affluent retail banking market: 74 percent of affluent retail bank customers use Web sites regularly for gathering financial information, compared to 44 percent of the total market.

The survey also indicates that 60 percent of banking and brokerage customers click through on financial banner advertisements for additional information on products. For both groups, credit cards are the top product purchased through banner advertisements. Among brokerage customers, stocks/bonds ranked second as purchases from banner ad click-throughs. Among banking customers, auto insurance ranked a distant second.

The nationwide survey was conducted online among more than 30,000 adults, including 11,699 retail banking customers and 2,089 brokerage customers.